Randy David | PUBLIC LIVES

On the surface, the unity theme that is at the heart of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s and Sarah Duterte’s respective presidential and vice presidential candidacies seems nothing more than a reference to the alliance of two powerful political clans—the Marcoses of the North and the Dutertes of the South. The “UniTeam” brand seeks to convey … Read more

There’s a documentary about people’s power in Ukraine that is currently trending on Netflix. “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” deals with the events in the winter of 2013-2014 that led to the toppling of the pro-Russian government of then President Viktor F. Yanukovych. It shows why Vladimir Putin is bent on punishing the … Read more

In trying to understand momentous political events like the current crisis in Ukraine, it is always good to bear in mind that the situation on the ground and the perspective of ordinary people tend to be far more complex than the way such events are rendered in the news and in official narratives. What we … Read more

It will be 36 years this week since the Edsa people power revolution broke the Marcos dictatorship’s stranglehold on the Filipino nation. Many felt justified in calling it a miracle because it happened swiftly, and just when everyone was starting to despair that it might take a prolonged civil war to get rid of Marcos. … Read more

Sociologists who study modern society like to predict that the family — that realm of interpersonal intimacy — will have a diminishing role in the determination of an individual’s life. As societal functions become differentiated, they expect kinship to become increasingly irrelevant in politics, religion, business, the occupational system, etc. The end result of this … Read more

The “golden age” that I remember happened before Ferdinand Marcos became president in 1965. Indeed, I’d say Marcos presided over its dying years. In 1972, nearing the end of his second term, he assumed dictatorial powers by exploiting a provision in the 1935 Constitution. Conjuring a vision of a “New Society,” he then replaced that same … Read more

At least once every six years, we are invited to dream that enduring social change is, at last, within sight. And that a great deal depends on the person we elect to be the country’s next president. If we choose well, so the line goes, our country and our people will be on the path … Read more

Before my brother Dante was intubated in October last year, he made two hurried calls from the emergency room. The first was to our brother Ambo, the priest, to ask for his blessing and prayers. The second was to me, the eldest of the David siblings, to let me know he had agreed to be … Read more

On Friday this week, the Department of Health reported a record high of 37,207 new COVID-19 cases. Nearly one out of two PCR tests administered yielded a positive result. In barely two weeks, cases shot up from about 400 a day in late December to more than 30,000 by the second week of January. If … Read more

From that day in November 2021, when it was first identified in a South African lab, the SARS-CoV-2 variant named Omicron has cast a frightening shadow on a world already brought down to its knees by the deadly Delta variant. Featuring about 30 mutations, it showed an amazing capacity to evade the body’s first line … Read more